Safe and Sound
by lilredd3394
Summary: "Your childish beliefs are what gave them the strength to fight me, your childish belief in yourself is what kept you alive for three hundred years, and your childish belief is what brought me back. It's also the very same belief that I'm going to break." (Story is also on Ao3)


**I recommend listening to Safe and Sound (Me vs Gravity) to get the full effect of the story.**

**~Brii**

* * *

I remember tears streaming down your face

When I said, "I'll never let you go"

When all those shadows almost killed your light

I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"

But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight

Jack pulled against the chains that kept his arms above his head. He couldn't remember how he has gotten there; he had been flying over the Atlantic to get to Burgess to spend the last day of winter with Jamie and his friends. The next thing he knew he was waking up in the chains, hanging two feet off the ground by his arms. His staff was nowhere to be seen, but he had figured that his captor was smart enough to know not to leave it around him. The winter spirit lifted his gaze up, he could see enough of the moon for its light to land on him, it was then that he realized who had him and why.

"Pitch!" Jack yelled into the darkness, if he was right then his situation had gotten much worse and would probably never get better.

"I wondered how long it would take you to realize, Frost," a smooth yet chilling voice said as the gray figure stepped out of the shadows, the silver-gold eyes locking onto the winter spirit.

Jack tugged on the chains in desperation "Th-The guardians will come for me," he said, his voice shaking in his fear as images of what's going to happen to him flashed through his head.

"we both know that's not true, Frost, You haven't seen the guardians for years." Pitch said before lifting a hand to motion to the moon "and he knows that, which is why I'm going to let him watch as I slowly and brutally break his youngest and most fragile guardian until no one can save him."

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound

Jack lifted his gaze to the full moon above their heads "Manny, please," he begged, his voice soft and scared "Please, help me."

"Just hanging from the chains is enough to start breaking you," Pitch said grabbing the pale face and forcing the blue eyes to look at him "and your fear is delicious. It's amazing how the guardians never realized how important you actually were."

"Wh-What do you mean?"

Pitch smirked "You're a child, aren't you?" he asked as his nails dug into the pale flesh beneath them "a child's belief works the same, immortal or not, and the guardians were just too ignorant to realize that it wasn't Jamie's belief that saved them…. it was yours. Your childish beliefs are what gave them the strength to fight me, your childish belief in yourself is what kept you alive for three hundred years, and your childish belief is what brought me back. It's also the very same belief that I'm going to break."

Don't you dare look out your window, darling,

Everything's on fire

The war outside our door keeps raging on

Hold on to this lullaby

Even when music's gone

Gone

Jack let out a soft whimper at the others threat; he closed his eyes as a single tear rolled down his face from his left eye. He heard a deep chuckle come from Pitch before it turned into a loud booming laugh that would have reminded him of North had he not been so terrified. He felt the nails tightened on his jaw before they released him and footsteps walked away from him. He held still for a few extra seconds before slowly opening his eyes again and looking towards where Pitch's footsteps went towards. He froze as his eyes locked on the table that he hadn't seen before; his staff was laying on it surrounded by knives of different sizes as well as a candle that wasn't yet lit.

"I realized, back in Antarctica, when I broke your staff that you actually felt it," Pitch said picking up the long piece of wood with his gray fingers "and that got me thinking, if I cut a small piece off your staff, what would that do to you?" he picked up a medium size knife before turning to Jack "Let's fine out shall we?"

Jack watched in horror as the silver blade of the knife tore into his staff, causing a two inch chunk of wood to land on the floor at Pitch's feet. It was only a few seconds later that his back arched as pain rippled through his entire body, his screams of pain echoed through the room and out the small hole the moon was shining through. His pale fists clenched, his nails dug into his palms until his nails cut through the skin. The pain lasted for several minutes before he went limp, the dull throb was still there but it wasn't as bad.

Pitch smirked "so that's what it does," he said before picking up the small two inch piece of wood "for such a small piece of wood, if I cut a bigger piece off, will there be more pain and would it last longer?"

Jack shook his head "No, please," he whispered, but he didn't struggle in the chains, he knew that no matter how much he pleaded that Pitch would never let him go.

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound

Pitch grabbed the largest knife and cut half way into the staff before changing the direction so it was cutting down. He did that for a few more minutes before twisting the knife, causing a two foot piece of the staff to break off and land on the small pile of wood chips that he had been cutting off of the staff. The reaction was almost immediate, the screams Jack had been holding back finally exploded. They caused his ears to ring but the enjoyment he was getting was worth the small amount of discomfort. His silver-gold eyes looked at Jack, it was amazing how he felt the pain but there was not a single mark on his body that showed that he was being tortured. "You know, you've been here for a couple hours," Pitch said as he walked over to Jack, he only held the top three feet of the staff, the bottom four had already been cut into wood chips that were laying on the floor "I haven't seen your precious guardians yet, I don't think they're coming for you, Frost. Maybe it's because Manny hasn't told them about you being tortured, or maybe he has and they just don't care." He watched as the emotionless blue eyes looked up at him, he had known it would be easy to break the boy but he hadn't realized how easy it would be. The poor spirit had always been scared of being forgotten, and Pitch was not only making it a reality but he was putting brutal torture on top of it. It wouldn't be long before he lost all hope.

Pitch looked down at the staff in his hands, before grabbing another knife and continued to cut away at the twisted wood. He smirked when he realized that Jack wasn't even trying to hold back his screams of pain or hide the tears rolling down his face. It wouldn't be long before his belief of the guardians was completely gone, it helped greatly that Manny didn't have the strength to tell them that their youngest member was being tortured.

Pitch had been almost done carving the rest of the staff when he heard a squeak of dismay and horror. His silver-gold eyes looked towards the hole, hovering just outside was a small little Tooth Fairy, the very same fairy that Jack called Baby Tooth. "Get it!" he told his nightmares as the little fairy shot away to tell the guardians "don't let it reach the guardians!" If the guardians came then his entire plan would be ruined, and he was so close to breaking Jack that he couldn't risk it.

Jack's eyes flickered to the hole, just in time to see the Nightmares rush after Baby Tooth. He felt a small amount of hope flutter but it was soon extinguished when he realized that even if Baby Tooth reached the guardians, they probably wouldn't stop what they were doing to save him. It was too close to Christmas for North to stop working; Aster was too busy painting his eggs for Easter, Tooth had her job that required constant attention and Sandy was too busy bringing dreams to sleeping children. They didn't care about him enough to risk losing their faith again.

Jack lowered his gaze from the hole to the small chips from his staff that were lying at Pitch's feet, he couldn't feel the pain of him carving away at his staff since his body was too numb but he knew he would never be able to fix his staff anymore; it was too broken, much like him. His eyes closed as his head fell forward against his chest, he felt so tired. He hadn't felt tired since he had become Jack Frost. Sure he slept, but he never needed to. At this moment, he felt like he could sleep for days and he was pretty sure he could as well.

"are you having fun yet, Frost?" Pitch asked as he dropped the last two inch chip of staff onto the pile at his feet, he turned his gaze to the winter spirit and was slightly shocked to see that he wasn't moving. He walked over to him and gripped his chin, he lifted the head but still got no response "Frost?" he repeated, the once cold skin was slowly warming up and gaining a pale color. He released the boy's face, causing his head to fall forward once again.

Pitch looked over as the Nightmares returned, he heard them whinny about how the fairy had evaded them and reached the Tooth Palace and that the guardians were already gathering. The Boogeyman growled before walking over to the table and grabbing the match "then we much finish soon," he said, he would have rather used the candle and burned one piece at a time but he didn't have the time for that now that the Guardians were gathering, "The boys belief in the guardians should be broken by now." He glanced down at the pile of wood before dropping the burning match right into the middle; it didn't take long for the wood to start smoking or for the once unconscious spirit to start screaming again. He smirked as he moved away from the burning wood to the winter spirit, he watched as Jack thrashed against the wall. He wanted to know how much pain the boy was feeling but he was pretty sure it was similar to being burned from the inside out. He looked at the Nightmares "Let's get out of here, the Guardians will be here soon." He glanced once more at Manny before slipping into the shadows; he didn't have to wait long for the guardians to burst in through the hole.

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light  
You and I'll be safe and sound

Every gaze was drawn to the screaming spirit that was hanging from the wall. Toothiana was the first one to rush over and try to get him to stop, but her soft words or the gently touches did nothing to stop his pain. Her amethyst eyes were over flowing with tears as she was unable to help her friend, the guardians never once glanced at the burning pile of wood that was lying behind them. They never once thought that the spirits pain wasn't physical but mental, or the fact that the staff wasn't just a piece of wood that helped him use his powers. The staff was all that and more; the staff was also a part of him, and extension of his soul. That was what caused the pain that Jack felt, not the wood being destroyed but the piece of his soul that was inside of it. The very same piece of his soul, that he couldn't live without…

Just close your eyes

You'll be alright

Come morning light,

You and I'll be safe and sound...


End file.
